Why Content is the Foundation of your Social Media Marketing

Coca Cola, which is one of the worlds most recognized brands has recently announced that its marketing strategy is moving from “creative excellence” to “content excellence“.

This is due to the the realization that on a social web people can create more dynamic stories about a business and brand than they can ever hope to achieve on their own.

Coca Cola is making sure that it is embracing this changing paradigm in marketing and creating content that is liquid and contagious and let the global crowd create the dynamic stories about a brand.

This is the crowd sourcing of marketing.

This is what makes social media marketing so effective, it taps into the leverage of the conversations of billions of people that communicate and share daily on the global web.

These conversations are about content and this takes me to three stories.

Story One: Books and the Power of Imagination

I was only nine but I had just discovered the attraction and magic of books.

After learning to read I started to find the allure of the printed page compelling and contagious. I started borrowing books from the school library about pirates and tropical adventures and other stories that took me to far away places as my imagination took flight.

The book bug had bitten me so hard that reading two to three books a week wasn’t unusual and the school librarian must have thought that I was stalking her. This healthy obsession with stories and books had me reading under the bed covers at night with my bed site lamp hidden under the blankets after the obligatory nights out curfew so that my parents thought I was still asleep!

The power of stories and their power to engage my imagination had me enthralled.

Story Two: News and the Man on the Moon

It was such a big news event that school finished early and we were able to go home and watch the man land on the moon.

Television was still black and white and I remember watching the shaky images from the moon arriving on the TV screen as Neil Armstrong announced “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”

Watching man step onto the moon is a memory I will never forget.

The power of media to distribute powerful news stories was evident on that day July 20, 1969 .

Story Three: Discovering Information on the World Wide Web

It was in 1995 and I remember connecting up the modem and logging onto the internet for the first time. Alta vista was a crude but still useful search engine that allowed you to find information from the web that has since seen the death of printed encyclopedias and the rise of wikipedia.

I remember thinking that my visits to the library would not be so frequent anymore and hunting for information would be quicker and much more convenient.

Information, data and content could now be found and consumed from the other side of the world via the internet and personal computer.

Content: Stories, News and Information

Stories, news and information are eagerly sought by everyone and these can all be published online. This is content, any media that can be published on the web.

Social media marketing requires content that is compelling and contagious. It requires content that begs to be shared. It requires content that is so liquid that people want to share it online and offline.

Social media marketing without these types of content is like man without a soul or a king without clothes.

Content is the Hub and Heart of Social Media.

Note: To view the presentation below click on the image.

This presentation that I gave as a keynote at the BE-Wizard conference in Italy recently, looks at the key building blocks for creating and marketing you content.

This presentation includes.

What is content marketing?

What are the types of content you should be creating.

Why Multimedia is important in your content marketing plans.

What the benefits are of content.

What are the 10 commandments of content marketing

What great content should be.

What content shouldn’t be

The power of images, photos, video and infographics

Why search and content are linked and synergistic.

What are the 8 challenges of content marketing?

How do you come up with the inspiration and ideas for creating content?

What are the ultimate types of content?

What is addictive content?

How do you structure and optimize your content for the social web?

How do you promote and market your content, so it spreads and is shared?

How do you measure success?

Some case studies of the global superstars of content.

What about You?

How do you use content for your marketing? What works for you? Are you creating dynamic stories?

What are some of your successes with content that you have experienced and maybe surprised you.

While I don’t “market” a business I do promote my personal brand as a professional on Twitter and LinkedIn. Thanks for these very powerful tips on creating dynamic content that others will respond to.

Anonymous

While I don’t “market” a business I do promote my personal brand as a professional on Twitter and LinkedIn. Thanks for these very powerful tips on creating dynamic content that others will respond to.

http://www.alittlebranding.com Bob Strassel Jr.

Jeff, Thanks for sharing. I recently had a discussion with a few clients about great content and social media marketing. I think that one of my biggest questions that I get and that I often ask my self is this question…what is great content and what drives it. I always thought that one of the main drivers was relevancy. Relevancy to audience, target market and goals. Beside being unique, creative, interesting, engaging and easy to share, it has to be relevant. If it is not, no matter how good it is, it does not matter. I have learned this lesson the hard way many times… Again thanks for sharing this great presentation and your thoughts. I will share this as well.. – Bob

http://www.alittlebranding.com Bob Strassel Jr.

Jeff, Thanks for sharing. I recently had a discussion with a few clients about great content and social media marketing. I think that one of my biggest questions that I get and that I often ask my self is this question…what is great content and what drives it. I always thought that one of the main drivers was relevancy. Relevancy to audience, target market and goals. Beside being unique, creative, interesting, engaging and easy to share, it has to be relevant. If it is not, no matter how good it is, it does not matter. I have learned this lesson the hard way many times… Again thanks for sharing this great presentation and your thoughts. I will share this as well.. – Bob

Anonymous

I am sitting in my hotel room in Nassau, over looking the harbor where pirates used to lurk, and still do judging by some of the prices around here. It is strange how we have this romantic notion about pirates when they were disgusting thieves and murderers. This is the result, I suppose, of the social media exposure of hundreds of years. There has always been social media, it just works faster now than it did when neighbors chatted over the fence.

If you’re going to use social media for business, you need to be active. If you’re going to be active, you need to share on a regular basis. And what are you doing to share? Exactly- your content. In order to get social media followers to click over to your site you need to give them reason to do so, and sharing engaging blog posts is a great way to do this.

http://twitter.com/cogomojo Peg McDermott

Couldn’t agree more, content is king!

http://www.SEO-ST-LOUIS.COM/ Jen

Fresh content is the best way to engage your site visitors and if you’re using social media, as Nick mentions below, you have to have content to share. Interesting, entertaining or education blog posts are an easy way to add fresh content but running contests, sales or coupons are some good ways too. If you can use social media to point people to some discounts they’ll be happy and you’ll have business.

Anonymous

Content really can develop a story, relationship and emotional connection with your audience and the way it’s delivered really matters as well. Pushing content like advertising has less effect these days, which is why content marketing pulls and is a better option for a lot of businesses.

http://jeffbullas.com Jeff Bullas

Thanks for your comment. Attraction marketing where potential buyers opt-in, takes longer but in the end is much more effective.

Anonymous

Jeff, I can still make my mom cry (in a good way) when I
tell the story of the first time she took me to the library aged 6, and I got
to choose my own books for the first time and became lost to reading ever since.
42 years later, I haven’t stopped reading since. Having embraced sharing free content
as the heart of my business strategy it’s been a shock to find that the core of
my business, as a business adviser at Bizfix, is now research, content creation
and content curation. We content masters are becoming masters of the universe
and thanks for giving us content geeks a gentle plaudit.

http://jeffbullas.com Jeff Bullas

Thanks for the personal comment Chris. The love of reading is something worth valuing

http://jeffbullas.com Jeff Bullas

Thanks for the personal comment Chris. The love of reading is something worth valuing

http://jeffbullas.com Jeff Bullas

Thanks for the personal comment Chris. The love of reading is something worth valuing

Thanks for dropping and and contributing, Create great content and they will come and then they will share and tell others The power of “World of Mouth”

http://jeffbullas.com Jeff Bullas

Thanks Vicky for your insightful comment. Yes, one of the secrets of compelling content is writing and producing articles that your readers can relate to. This can be done through story telling it also can be done by solving their problems.

http://jeffbullas.com Jeff Bullas

Thanks Ken for taking the time to comment. Creating content that engages people is an asset that keeps giving and works for you while you sleep. The next challenge is making sure it is then distributed and shared. Marketing and promoting the content is the final piece of the puzzle and you need to be relentless so your articles and other media is found “everywhere”!,

that’s all true & 100% agreed. and that means that Content is still the KING!

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